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| 2007/04/18 21:00:43瀏覽235｜回應0｜推薦3 | |
| Original : http://www.socialforce.tw/phpBB/topic_17303.html 一個台灣女婿 William R. Stimson 寫了一篇『給中國上一堂課』，文中從「小國家 對世界的重要性」說明台灣為什麼要而且必須獨立於中國之外。我把它翻譯在此。想 瞭解 Stimson 的人可以看看他的網站： http://www.billstimson.com/ 必須說明的是，翻譯這篇文章碰到許多瓶頸，讓我不知如何翻比較恰當。我試著揣摩 其義，並相信絕大部分的翻譯都保留了原作者的原意與精神，如果有語意不當的地 方，責任在我身上而不在原作者身上。 "A Lesson For China" by William R. Stimson http://www.billstimson.com/writing/Lesson_for_China.htm 給中國上一堂課 Every morning as I make breakfast, I listen to my Mandarin lesson. This morning, the sentence I learned was, "Taiwan is about the same size as Holland." 每天早上我都一邊準備早餐一邊聽我的漢文課程。今天早上我學到的句子是：『台灣 大約跟荷蘭一樣大』。 It struck me there wasn't just a Chinese lesson in this for me. Here was also a Chinese lesson for China. Not just in size is Taiwan comparable to The Netherlands. 我突然想到這不只是給我的一堂中文課，而且還是給中國的中文課，其意義不僅僅是 「台灣跟荷蘭一樣大」而已。 The people, culture, and language of Taiwan are Chinese. Those of The Netherlands are Germanic. 台灣的人民、文化跟語言是來自中國的，而荷蘭的這些是來自德國的。 Somehow, however, The Netherlands didn't get absorbed into greater Germany, as did so many comparable areas with their distinctive local cultures and ways of speaking. It got to pursue a different course of development and came to play a unique and important role in history. Europe would be poorer without the little Netherlands, and so would the world. 然而，荷蘭並沒有如其他一些擁有自己特殊區域語言文化的小地方一樣被融入「大德 國」之中。相反地，她自己追尋了一個不同的發展途徑並因而在歷史上扮演一個獨特 而且重要的角色。 Asia, and the world, would similarly be poorer without little Taiwan. 如果沒有荷蘭，歐洲與整個世界將會更貧窮。同樣的，如果沒有台灣，亞洲與整個世 界也將更貧窮。 In ways that were unique and different from any other country, Taiwan -- its business community that is -- was able to make the early move into China and set in motion developments that later made China into a great economic power. 台灣，特別是她的經濟勢力，以其與其他國家不同的管道提早進入了中國，並參與了 促成中國日後成為強大經濟實體的發展過程。 Nowadays, the economy of big China eclipses that of little Taiwan, but Taiwan's usefulness to its big neighbor is far from ended. Taiwan will again play a unique role in what promises to be China's next big crisis and perhaps most difficult transition. 現在，這個大中國的經濟已經超越了小台灣，但台灣對中國這個大鄰居的重要性並沒 有因此削弱。在中國下一個大危機，很可能是一個更困難的轉捩點中，台灣將再一次 地扮演其獨特的角色。 Should it come as any surprise that freedom can sometimes happen in a small place easier than in a large one? When the U.S. became free it was little and England was big. However, now that the U.S. has become a big superpower, it is losing what was always most special about it. Being big isn't as important as being free. Hence the importance of the small. 您會不會感到意外，有時小地方比大地方更容易發展出「自由」？美國當年享有「自 由」的時候，還是一個很小的國家，而那時的英國是一個大國。現在美國雖然已 經成 為一個超強大國，但卻正在失去其特有的自由。可見「成為超強大國」遠比不上「成 為自由的國家」重要。而一個小國（如果能保住「自由」）將更能顯現其重 要性。 The Hindu elephant God named Ganesha represents, among other things, what is big and powerful. Always, at the feet of Ganesha there is a little mouse. Thus, it can be seen that the Hindu religion recognizes that the power of the big is connected with the power of the small. 在印度，他們的「象神」名叫「卡尼砂」(Ganesha)，象徵的一個特質之一是巨大而且 強勢。但是，在卡尼砂的腳邊，總會有一隻小老鼠。因此可以說，印度的宗教裡認知 到大的勢力總是跟小的勢力相關連。 Taiwan is the little mouse at China's feet. The reason Taiwan is so important to China is because it is small, independent, and free. 以此來做比喻，台灣有如中國腳邊的小老鼠。台灣之所以對中國這麼重要，是因為台 灣是小的、獨立的、自由的。 In the history of Europe and the world, small independent states have often played a role out of proportion to their size. Why is it proving so hard for Beijing to grasp that Taiwan's value to China is in its independence from China and that it serves China better if it remains the way it is? 在歐洲與世界歷史上，小而獨立的國家常常扮演著一個與他們的大小不相稱的角 色。為什麼北京政府這麼難瞭解，台灣對中國的價值，在於台灣的「獨立而且保持獨 立於中國之外」？ The answer is simple. Just as a small bird will grab whatever is at hand to weave its nest, even bits of trash and refuse, so China, in its frantic scramble to reinvent its identity, has snatched up an inappropriate aspect of its past and woven it into the nation's new self-concept. 答案很簡單。如同一隻小鳥會緊緊抓住任何微小的樹枝並將其帶回去做巢，目前正在 慌張地重建國家形象的中國，已經牢牢抓住一段過去的不正當的歷史並將其編織到其 新的國家自我中。 The notion of a so-called "One China" that Beijing has wielded to bully Taiwan has to finally be seen for what it is -- a euphemism for the brutal central dictatorship that for too long now has crippled so many prosperous and promising regions of China and forced them into a misguided cultural and economic stagnation. 北京用來要脅台灣的所謂的「一個中國」的說法，最後終會露出他的真面目，那就是 一個古老的獨裁政權用來瓦解很多中國地方發展並迫使他們經歷文化浩劫與經濟停滯 的美麗謊言。 The "one China" notion needs to be discarded before it does more damage than it already has. 我們必須在這個「一個中國」的說法造成更多傷害之前放棄它。 Taiwan's politicians can act like a bunch of circus clowns. And that's all they would be -- were they not inventing from within Chinese culture a form of democracy that is as uniquely Chinese as the economic miracle their fathers invented before them, and then passed on to China. 台灣的政治人物有時表現得像馬戲團的小丑。如果他們不能從中國文化中發展出一套 獨特民主制度並如他們的前輩的經濟西進一樣將其輸入中國，那他們大概也只能當小 丑。 Small Taiwan hasn't stopped cooking. It's just got something new on the stove right now. It's more useful to big China and the world than ever. It would be a tragedy if China grew too big and too full of its new wealth and power to grasp this. 小小的台灣並沒有停止調理他的未來。他目前就擁有新的秘方，這將會比以前對中國 與整個世界的貢獻更加重要。如果中國成長得太巨大富有並將台灣吞併，那將會是一 個悲劇。 As the example of the U.S. illustrates today, big, arrogant and proud countries can be the slowest to learn -- which is all the more reason why the small, independent, and free ones are so useful to have around. 就如同美國今天所面臨的例子，強大而且自大的國家很可能是最沒有學習能力的國 家，這也是為什麼維持一些小的、獨立且自由的國家是如此地重要。 |
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